Sorry
by journeyintoMystery
Summary: In which, after a couple of moments of bonding with the team, Steve finally asks the question burning in the back of his mind since he awoke. Where's Peggy? Short One-Shot. Expect a lot of feels.


_**Disclaimer:**__ Not mine_

* * *

The team had assembled together. Not to fight some foreign-to-earth assailant, but to live with each other. Usually, it would've been a ghastly thing to share the same living quarters with a woman, but Steve agreed due to the extensive space Stark towers offered.

After the first few weeks, where everyone just walked past each other with an awkward greeting, they all finally began to relax. Even Bruce, who protested against living in the tower due to not wanting an accident to happen, began to come out of his room more.

Pepper helped, more like forced, everyone to have quality time. As a team.

They each took turns choosing an activity all of them could participate in. Bruce and Tony would usually decide to go to a science and tech expo, Natasha and Steve would choose to go someplace like the gym or rock climbing, Thor would normally choose to go to some crazy place tucked away from the publics' eye, and Clint would mostly make everyone accompany him to the shooting range where they all tried (with great difficulty) to try to better their skills in archery and aim.

One day, after going to a seminar about mind development by someone named Dr. Xavier, they all trudged back to the tower with newly acquired ice cream cones. "That was actually interesting. Nice pick Bruce." Tony complimented, licking his butterscotch flavored ice cream. "Thanks…" Bruce said, flopping down on the expensive couch.

"Yeah, it was like watching a magic show, since he read that Natasha's mind and everything." Clint said, taking a bite out of his ice cream cone. "It was a trick, obviously. There's no such thing as mind reading." Natasha said, rolling her eyes. "Still pretty awesome though." Clint replied.

"What makes you think there is no such thing as a mind reader lady Natasha?" Thor asked with a slight frown. He obviously enjoyed the act if he was defending it from Nat. "Common sense." She replied with a shrug. "Yeah, just like everyone knows there's no such things as aliens, it's _common sense_ after all." Tony scoffed. "There is such things as aliens, but not the ones you see in the Sci-Fi movies typically. Same thing might apply to super powers." Bruce mused. "Thank you! See? There's such things as having _natural_ superpowers, no offense Cap." Tony said. "None taken." Steve replied.

"Okay, fine, sorry to offend you and your beliefs." Natasha said, holding her hands up in surrender. The chatter changed topics to a variation of things, until it finally settled down on relationships.

"So I hear you guys are together finally." Tony said to Clint and Natasha. "Not true. Who told you that though?" Clint said. Tony grinned before saying, "The walls have ears Clint, and having both of you defile one of my bedrooms upstairs—"

"Okay, we get it!" Bruce cut off. "What about you and Pepper?" Steve asked, an amused expression playing across his features. "We're doing great. I'm going to take her to a surprise vacation to Las Vegas next week. I'm trusting you guys to keep my secret." Tony replied, sitting back. "Las Vegas?" Thor asked in an accent.

"Yup. Colorful place with lights, casinos, money, and other things. It's really hot their though." Tony said. "Hotter than New Mexico?" Natasha asked. "No way! That state is a furnace!" Clint cried. "It only rained _once_ when S.H.I.E.L.D stationed there, and we stayed there for a _long _time. And it lasted only for five minutes." Clint added. Natasha shrugged. "I was just asking."

"What about you Brucey?" Tony asked, a curious look on his face. "I don't know, but there was this one girl…" Bruce hesitated. "Don't worry, we won't tell the government." Clint said with a wink. "Her name's Betty. I left her when I went to train up in the mountains." Bruce said. "You were fighting bears under a waterfall, right?" Tony asked. "I was not!" Bruce replied. "If you say so." The philanthropist said.

"So this Betty… she knows you're a superhero now or what?" Natasha asked. "I don't know. I haven't heard from her since I left to the mountains." Bruce admitted. "I'll search her up for you later if you want." Tony piped up. "Thanks…" Banner said with a small smile.

"So, we know Space Viking's got that nerdy girl back in New Mexico where he visits her from time to time." Tony said, holding up five finger. "Yeah, she's really smart for a mortal." Thor said with a distant happy look on his face. "Hey, were _all _mortals here, try not to offend us." Tony warned with a smile. Thor replied with a shrug.

"And you Captain Spandex?" Tony asked. Steve shrugged. "I don't see a point in talking about my non-existent love life." He replied. "Oh come on, you had _something_ going on at least, before you turned to Capsicle." Tony urged. "Well…" Rogers hesitated. "Come on, we all talked about _our_ love life." Clint said.

"Peggy. Peggy Carter." Steve relented. "She was there when I turned into Captain America. We kissed once…" Steve said, sounding almost dreamy. "Then?"

Steve's expression turned from blissful to pensive. "Then I promised I'd be back from a mission… the mission where I crashed the ship into the ocean…" He replied quietly. "And then it froze over and you never made it back to her…" Natasha finished. It was quiet.

"There's still a chance she's alive." Bruce piped up. "True, we could look her up right now if you want." Tony replied, jumping in on the idea. "I don't know…" Steve responded uncertainly, biting his lip slightly. "You might be able to see her again!" Clint said. "What if she already moved on?" Steve asked. "I wouldn't want to disturb her daily life by a sudden visit." He added honestly.

"Come on Rogers, I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you again!" Natasha said. "Fine. But if she has children, and or grandchildren she lives with, then I'm not going to disturb her with—" Steve began. "Great! JARVIS, search up every Peggy Carter who served in the military during World War Two." Tony interrupted. "Right away sir." The British voice resounded throughout the room.

There was another pregnant pause, the AI spoke up. "I have found the file of the search and saved it, would you like to view it?" JARVIS asked. "Yes please." Tony said. The room dimmed and the holograms filled the empty space in front of Tony. An orange computerized folder lay in the middle of the air, as if on a flat surface.

Grabbing it, the folder responded to Tony's touch, he opened it. Articles, pictures, and boxes of information exploded into the formerly empty air. "Which one is she?" Tony asked, enlarging the picture for everyone to see. "T-There." Steve said, pointing at a picture of a rather beautiful brunette with curlish hair. "Alrighty then." Tony said, opening the file the picture came with.

Scanning through the information, Tony's face suddenly to drop. Just as quickly, he covered it with a composed mask. "We seem to have a bit of a problem." Tony said at last, still not showing them the info. "What's wrong?" Natasha asked. Tony simply shook his head.

"Come on Rogers, we need to talk." Tony said. The tone, and the use of his last name, made Steve internally panic a little.

The rest of the team watched as Tony pulled Steve aside and under a doorway. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but when Natasha grabbed the virtual folder and read the information, she caught on.

Clint tried to grab the computerized file but Nat fought him off.

"What's happening? Is there something wrong?" Bruce asked, looking a bit worried himself. They glanced at Tony and Steve. They stopped talking.

Steve stared at him for a moment before asking something. Tony replied, paused, then added something else, but it fell on deaf ears as Steve quickly grabbed his jacket and stormed out of the room.

"What happened brother?" Thor asked Tony. The philanthropist simply shook his head and gave the door a troubled look.

"Peggy Carter Denby. Married, husband currently deceased. Two children. Three grandchildren…" Natasha summarized. "So, she kept her name when she married. She had children, what of it?" Clint asked. "Her funeral was a week ago." Natasha said quietly. Silence fell over the room for the third time, smothering anything anyone was going to say.

X

Steve stood in front of the menacingly dark gates, shaken and trying to regain his breath. What was he even _doing_?

She was gone, Steve realized, never coming back. With a strange, heavy pain pressing itself against his chest, he opened the gate.

He wondered around the grave yard before finding the right tombstone. One that read:

_**Peggy Carter Denby**_

_**Beloved mother, grandmother, and wife.**_

Gently touching the tombstone, Steve knelt down. His mind was racing with all the things he could say, all the things he never _got_ to say. He opened his mouth to say something only to realize that he really had no idea what to tell her.

He wanted to apologize, to tell her how much he cared about her, how he had never forgotten her, and most likely never would. She was his first love. Probably his only.

After all this time, he realized he still loved her. He always would.

He opened and closed his mouth trying to find, with great difficulty, the words to say. Sighing, he cleared the gravestone free of stray leafs and dirt. Smiling wryly, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Sorry I'm late for our date…"


End file.
